Sunburst, Montana
9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1939 and the latest in 1986. It stands in the Sunburst census division. It lies in ZIP code area 59482. The Survey maps it on the Sunburst quadrangle. 333 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 3,369 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresSunburst fell from 375 to 333 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 375 | |
| 2020 | 333 | -42 (-11%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 9 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1939 USGS Sunburst quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1954 USGS Shelby quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Shelby quadrangle1:250000
- 1984 USGS Sweet Grass Hills quadrangle1:100000
- 1986 USGS Sunburst quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
5 since 2018Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 5 fires within 5 miles of Sunburst between 2018 and 2019, burning about 12 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Equipment and vehicle use | 5 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 September 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Toole County | KW AG |
| 13 September 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Toole County | KW AG 2 |
| 31 August 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2.0 acres | Central Land Office | not named |
| 5 July 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 5.0 acres | Central Land Office | not named |
| 15 October 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 5.0 acres | Central Land Office | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
15 since 2000Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Sunburst in 15 storm reports between 2000 and 2022: 8 thunderstorm wind, 7 hail. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sunburst | - | Mesonet station MTSUN (Sunburst) reported 50 knot wind gust. |
| September 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sunburst | - | Mesonet station FW8513 Sunburst reported 59 knot wind gust. |
| June 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sunburst | - | MT DOT sensor 6-miles NNW of Sunburst reported 62-mph peak gust from thunderstorm. |
| June 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sunburst | - | Sunburst DOT sensor recorded a gust of 83 mph. |
| June 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sunburst | - | A 115 mph thunderstorm wind gust was recorded by personal weather station. Likely associated with downburst. Damage to trees, picnic area, roof, and siding. |
| August 2016 | Hail | Sunburst | - | A thunderstorm dropped 1.75 inch diameter hail at Sunburst 1NW. Also, 1 inch diameter hail fell at Sunburst 4WNW. |
| August 2016 | Hail | Sunburst | - | A thunderstorm dropped 1.25 inch diameter hail at Sunburst 16ENE. |
| August 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sunburst | - | High winds measuring 51KT (59MPH) were reported 20 miles E of Sunburst, MT. |
| July 2013 | Hail | Sunburst | - | Hail measuring 1.75 inches (golf ball sized) was reported in Sunburst, MT. |
| June 2002 | Hail | Sunburst | - | A severe thunderstorm produced 1.00 inch hail at Sunburst 14SW. |
| July 2005 | Hail | Sunburst | - | no account filed |
| September 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sunburst | - | no account filed |
| September 2004 | Hail | Sunburst | - | no account filed |
| June 2000 | Hail | Sunburst | - | no account filed |
| June 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sunburst | - | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ohio Camp | 4.9 miles | 9 | |
| Sweet Grass | 8.2 miles | 9 | |
| Rim Rock Colony | 9.8 miles | 11 | |
| Kevin | 9.9 miles | 8 | |
| Oilmont | 10.5 miles | 8 | |
| Hillside Colony | 10.7 miles | 11 | |
| Ferdig | 11.4 miles | 9 | |
| Demers (historical) | 13.6 miles | 11 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Sunburst | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q965474 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 777316. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.




